20 Years of Thanksgiving Trends

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Thanksgiving Through the Years

From the reign of deep-fried turkeys in 1996 to 2017's sheet pan craze, here's proof that the turkey day feast is ever-evolving. What will 2018 bring to the table?

Food Network Kitchen’s Four In One Thanksgiving Pie, as seen on Food Network.

Photo: Renee Comet

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2017: Sheet Pan Recipes

Sheet pan dinners are all the rage, making meals easier to put together and clean up. And the clever sheet pan hack can do the same for Thanksgiving, giving you an entire feast on two sheet pans or you letting quadruple the holiday pie fun in one.

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Photo: Tara Donne ©

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2016: Cauliflower

Cauliflower is the "it" vegetable, and chefs turn it into low-carb pizza crusts, satisfying soups and even vegetarian "steaks." At-home cooks grate it to serve as "rice" and puree it to stealthily add nutrients to mashed potatoes and Alfredo sauce.

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Food Network Kitchen’s Hasselback Sweet Potatoes.

Photo: Matt Armendariz

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2015: Hasselback is Back

Made popular by the chefs at Restaurant Hasselbacken in Sweden, Hasselback potatoes fell off the radar for some time. The technique makes a resurgence in 2015, though, when HuffPost calls Hasselback potatoes "the perfect cross between mashed and roasted."

Food stylist: Anne Disrude
Prop Stylist: Alistair Turnbull

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2014: Doughnuts

Thanks to the Cronut's viral success in 2013, doughnuts become a key trend. Shops pop up in just about every neighborhood, serving the favorites as well as over-the-top creations. Some specialty stores are known to even offer Thanksgiving-themed doughnuts, everything from a sweet potato casserole flavor to one that features the entire meal on top.

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2013: Bruleed Pumpkin Pie

Fire up the blowtorches. Three leading food mags — Martha Stewart Living, Bon Appétit and Saveur — offer up pumpkin pies with the crackling torched-sugar tops.

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Photo: Brian Kennedy ©

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2012: Creamed Kale

Kale: It's not just for salad. Kale mania grips the nation, pushing spinach, mesclun and arugula off the plate. Is there anything this super veggie can't do? We're still waiting to find out.

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Photo: Matt Armendariz ©

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2011: Cornbread Stuffing

Southern food is smoking-hot, as reflected in the sudden resurgence of this down-home classic.

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2010: Turkeys Glaze Over

Molasses, pomegranate, maple, cider, soy sauce, even malt beer: The foodie press abounds in photogenic glazed birds.

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Spatchcock (split open) Roast Turkey
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Photo: Richad Rudisill ©

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2009: Spatchcocked Turkey

What works for chicken works for turkey. Just when you thought there was nothing new in turkey technique, here comes a method that — by cutting out the backbone and pressing the turkey flat — delivers incredibly fast and even cooking.

Food Network Kitchen's Roasted Garlic Brussels Sprouts as seen on Food Network

Photo: Alice Gao ©

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2008: Hello, Brussels Sprouts!

We discover the amazing versatility of Brussels sprouts: They're great whether shaved or shredded into a slaw, or separated into leaves and quickly sauteed.

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2007: Heritage Turkey

Those lean, flavorful, pricey old-breed birds, with evocative names like Bourbon Red and Narragansett, are all the rage. By 2008 they show up on Iron Chef America.

COUNTRY BREAD AND SAGE DRESSING
Bobby Flay
Boy Meets Grill/Thanksgiving on the Grill
Food Network
Hot Italian Sausage, Unsalted Butter, Red Onion, Celery, Carrot, Garlic, Sage Leaves, Egg, Stale
Country Bread, Salt, Pepper, Chicken Stock

Photo: Matt Armendariz ©

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2006: Dressing Beats the Stuffing Out of the Bird

Reports of the dangers of undercooked stuffing push more and more cooks in the direction of dressing.

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2005: Pork

Your bacon-of-the-month subscription? It comes in handy around Thanksgiving.

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Food Stylist: Paul Grimes
Prop Stylist: Pam Morris

Photo: Yunhee Kim

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2004: Dry-Brined Turkey

Salt meat heavily and refrigerate, loosely covered, for two or three days prior to cooking; that's dry-brining, a technique popularized by the dearly departed San Francisco Chef Judy Rogers, in her 2002 Zuni Cafe Cookbook. By 2004 her justly famous Zuni chicken is the template for countless Zuni turkeys.

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Sourdough, Wild Mushroom, and Bacon Dressing

Photo: Tara Donne ©

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2003: Wild Mushroom Stuffing (and Gravy)

Wild mushrooms are widely available, although expensive; the holidays provide the perfect excuse to splurge.

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2002: Turducken

Up from Cajun country flies the turducken, a boneless beast composed of a chicken stuffed into a duck stuffed into a turkey. Three birds in one, requiring virtuoso technique on the part of the butcher.

Video

Photo: Tenzin Sherab

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2001: Balsamic-Glazed ...

Balsamic burst into the mainstream in the '90s, and by 2001 it fully infiltrates Thanksgiving, providing sweetness, acidity and an appealing burnish to carrots, onions, sweet potatoes, winter squash, pears and even turkeys.

Tyler Florence's Wild Mushroom Bread Pudding as seen on Food Network

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2000: Savory Bread Pudding

Better than stuffing? Not necessarily. But folks are giving it a shot.

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1999: Truffled Mashed Potatoes

There was a time — before we learned it is 100 percent synthetic — when a little truffle oil seemed the height of sophistication. The year? 1999.

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1998: Smashed Potatoes

Here's a win for rusticity over the smooth refinement of mashed, likely driven by the rise of trendy Yukon gold and other waxier potatoes, which smash better than they mash. In the early '00s, Rachael Ray will usher smashed potatoes into the mainstream on her smash hit, 30 Minute Meals.

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